Return to same bullet after sub bullets

Jan-Daniël de Villiers September 21, 2018

Good day good people.  I hope the heading is descriptive enough, and I hope I didn't miss this topic in my searches here for answers.

Viewing the following sample bullet list:

  1. Some text goes here
    Which I can multiline using shift-enter
  2. And another point is made here, with sub-points
    1. (a) first sub-point to note
    2. (b) second sub-point.  shift-tab makes this 3 and increments rest
      Multiline, shift-tab here has the same effect as on previous line
  3. Last bit of text

What if I want to add some "conclusion" to point `2` on the same level, after sub-points `a` and `b`?  (I refer to `a` and `b`, as that's how Confluence numbers the sub-bulleted list on a page, and to help to differentiate between the levels I'm referring to.)

If I `shift-enter` after `b` to a new line, and press `shift-tab` to outdent, it makes `b` `3`.  I've tried a number of things, but can't add text to the root level of the same main point after a sub-bullet.

To explain what I want to do, here's a "hand indented" version of the same list, with text added in bold where I want to place it.

1. Some text goes here
    Which I can multiline using shift-enter
2. And another point is made here, with sub-points
        a) first sub-point to note
        b) second sub-point.  shift-tab makes this 3 and increments rest
            Multiline, shift-tab here has the same effect as on previous line
    I want to add text after the sub-bullets which is still relevant to (2) here
3. Last bit of text

I find this impossible to achieve.  Any help or suggestions welcome.

2 answers

2 votes
davidwelch September 27, 2021

I noticed that you can Tab to go in (make sub bullets), and Shift-tab to go back out. This means you can Shift-tab to go back to the bullet level you would expect and not have that gap. 

Michelle Cohen October 21, 2021

THANK YOU!!!!

Like davidwelch likes this
Jeff Sykes November 3, 2021

After wrestling with this headache for at least a year, I finally looked for answers, and what davidwelch said above is exactly what i needed.  THANKS!

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1 vote
Bill Bailey
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September 23, 2018

Yeah, that is tough. If you want the text at the same level, you cannot place it where you want in your example: it has to be below the main bullet text, using Shift+enter.

Why you asked? This is an ordered HTML list, and to do what you want would require applying a classed span tag around that text to change its indent (something that is tricky to do within Confluence (even with a user macro due to a bug that wraps macros in p tags).

Bottom line, you have to live within the constraints of autogenerated HTML.

 

This of course is easier with unordered lists. Generally for documentation, you only use ordered lists for a series of steps that must be completed in a particular sequence. All else should be formatted using bullets. It will make your life easier.

Jan-Daniël de Villiers September 25, 2018

Thank you for the detailed reply, Bill, it's much appreciated.

It is indeed a series of steps,  I have a reference screenshot with the required fields marked and the sub-numbers is what to enter in each.  The document is laid out with instruction, followed by reference image/screenshot.  In this case then, there is a line about the step at 2, with each field at a, b, etc, and then the image below that, which would make more sense if it's indented back to 2 again.

But alas, easy enough to find a formatting way around it.

Thanks again.  Have a good day.

Bill Bailey
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September 25, 2018

You will also want this free plugin: confluence-source-editor. It will really help you straighten out complex nested lists.

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